4. Novels - If you find it hard make time to read that novel everyone has been talking about, read it on the toilet. It’ll take a bit longer than usual, but you’ll get there.

5. Brainstorm - It’s quiet out there. Use your time to brainstorm and get some new ideas for whatever you need new ideas for. A pen and paper are handy to write it all down. Otherwise you may flush your ideas with the rest.

6. Redo your makeup - This one is for women only, but this is a nice place to redo your makeup with that travel-makeup-kit-thingy you always carry around.

7. Poke your nose - This is also a classic one. Nobody pokes his nose in public (well, most of us don’t) but if you like to clean it out, the toilet a good place to do it. No one sees you and you’ll get to wash your hands afterwards.

8. Listen to music - iPods are portable. Carry them with you at all times and listen to some tunes while sitting there. Other music devices such as mobile phones or mp3 players can be used as well.

9. Listen to podcasts - If you subscribe to podcasts, this is the time to listen to a few of them.

10. Watch some video - Have an iPod video or another portable video device such as the Playstation Portable? Make sure to set a clock, some movies run longer than 2 hours.

11. Play a game - You can play games on mobile phones, PDAs, iPods and portable gaming devices such as the Playstation Portable or a GameBoy. This is the time to finally beat the machine or set a new high score.

12. Learn stuff - Want to learn how to play Texas Hold’em poker? How to build your own kite? How to … You get it. Print out an article or two, bring a book or even your laptop and read more on these subjects.

13. Watch movie trailers - Don’t have time to watch trailers? Put ‘em on your iPod and watch while waiting.

14. Chat - A lot of mobile devices have chat services. A laptop is the easiest way of chatting on the loo. If you want to talk, go ahead.

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About Ariejan

Hey! I'm a software engineer building rock solid back-end systems
using Ruby, Ruby on Rails and Elixir. In my free time I love to
repair audio equipment, experiment with electronics, and play the piano.